Mac Jones, Patriots bounce back with "good, clean practice" during second joint session with Raiders

BOSTON -- The Patriots held their second joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday in Nevada, and it went much, much better than their first joint session with the Raiders on Tuesday.

By all accounts, Tuesday was the worst practice of the summer for the Patriots. That is saying something, considering how many bad practices the team has had this summer.

But Wednesday's session was a solid bounce-back day for Mac Jones and the Patriots offense, as well as the New England defense. Jones even made it a point to say it was a "good, clean practice" and pointed out how much fun he has -- and how much he learns -- during these joint sessions.

"I love the joint practices. It's really good work, especially here in the heat against a team with a lot of familiar players and really good coaches," said Jones. "Just go out and compete, play good football. It's fun."

Jones spoke of the team's collective mindset that helps them put poor showings like Tuesday in the past.

"We take each play one play at a time. Don't worry about the last play or really the next play; just focus on the play you're on," Jones said after Wednesday's practice. "Sometimes it's hard to do that when there's a lot going on. It's a lot faster than a game in practice, in my opinion. We just try to make it harder. Trying to get to that one-play mentality and continue doing that during games and every practice."

Let's get to some observations from New England's 16th practice of training camp:

Mac and the offense

While there was no clear winner during 11 on 11 drills, the Patriots showed a lot of progress after they struggled to do everything on Tuesday. Jones spread the ball around and finished the session with a touchdown pass to Hunter Henry to end a two-minute drill.

A huge celebration broke out after that play.

"He made a good catch and I had time to throw it," Jones said of Henry's touchdown. "It was good practice for both teams to get into that situation. That will come up in both of our seasons. You never know when it's going to happen but it's good to be ready for it."

Ty Montgomery shines

The search for a third-down, pass-catching back could be over, with Ty Montgomery having a really good practice on Wednesday.

Better day for Jalen Mills, too

Tuesday was probably the worst day of training camp for New England's top corner. Mills rebounded nicely on Wednesday and even made some plays against Davante Adams.

He wasn't breaking up anything that went Adams' way on Tuesday, so this is a pretty positive development and fits right into the "bouncing back" mantra of Wednesday's practice.

Overall, it was a pretty good day for New England corners.

Oh no...

You didn't think we'd get through an entire post without something negative popping up, did you? Unfortunately, the Patriots have some injuries to deal with heading into their final preseason game on Friday night.

Harris and Wynn were both spotted talking with Raiders players -- and a few former teammates -- after the session and appeared to be OK. 

Losing Agholor would be unfortunate because he has looked solid at times in camp. And the Pats can't afford to lose any more receivers after Tyquan Thornton was lost for up to 10 weeks after last week's preseason game. At least there are over two weeks before the regular season arrives.

The Patriots will now enjoy a practice-free day on Thursday before hitting the field for their final tune-up ahead the regular season on Friday night.

Tune in to Friday's Patriots-Raiders game on WBZ-TV -- the home of the New England Patriots -- and streaming on CBSBoston.com! Pregame coverage begins with Patriots All Access at 7:30pm, kickoff is set for shortly after 8pm, and stay tuned after the game for Patriots 5th Quarter!

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